Rory McIlroy at Players Championship 2015: Friday Leaderboard Score, Reaction

After an opening-round 69 at the 2015 Players Championship, Rory McIlroy was in a great position to make a move on the leaders at TPC Sawgrass on Friday. Although he remains on the periphery a bit, a second-round 71 ensured that he'll head into the weekend in title contention.

His four-under for the tournament is good enough for a share of 13th, four shots off Kevin Na and Jerry Kelly.

As if golf fans needed any more reason to follow McIlroy through the first two rounds, he was paired with Jordan Spieth for Thursday and Friday.

In the first round, the two stars had radically differing fortunes. Whereas McIlroy found himself within striking distance of the top spot, Spieth shot a somewhat disappointing three-under 75.

McIlroy's strong first round continued his recent run of form, per Golf Channel:

"You just have to be very, very patient," said the four-time major champion after Day 1, per BBC Sport. "I have a lot of pars on my card. It can jump up and bite you very quickly, and you have to know sometimes that par is a good score, and you move on."

McIlroy put together a very similar showing Friday. He avoided any critical mistakes and collected 13 pars for the round. Slowly but surely, he inched his way up the leaderboard. According to PGATour.com, he boasted a 75 percent driving accuracy and reached the green in regulation 63.89 percent of the time.

Golf Channel's Justin Ray illustrated just how well McIlroy's approach game has been of late:

Even when the 26-year-old left himself a bit of work to do on the green, he managed to find the right combination of luck and skill to avoid losing any strokes, such as this par-saving putt on No. 5 (via the PGA Tour):

McIlroy had a somewhat lackluster front nine. He bogeyed No. 6 and canceled it out with a par on No. 9. He headed into the back nine at even par looking to make up some ground on Na. ESPN.com's Jason Sobel highlighted how McIlroy has on average been a much-better golfer on the back nine at TPC Sawgrass:

Indeed, McIlroy looked to be in business after picking up back-to-back birdies on Nos. 11 and 12. However, his momentum stalled, and he then bogeyed No. 16 to fall to one under on the round. Brian Wacker of PGATour.com felt that McIlroy went for broke on the hole and ultimately lost out:

Despite finishing the round on a somewhat disappointing note, McIlroy has reason to feel good about his round and where he sits on the leaderboard. Cameron Morfit of Golf.com feels that he is in a great position to make a move:

At a certain point, consistent won't be good enough for McIlroy if he wants to win the Players Championship. While he has remained right in the thick of things through the first two days, he'll have to create something special Saturday or Sunday to seriously challenge for the lead.

This is one of the best golfers in the world, though. A brilliant 18 holes is certainly within reason for McIlroy, and he'll be one of the stars to watch at TPC Sawgrass this weekend.